


Fear of a Clown

by dramatic owl (snarky_panda)



Category: Quantum Leap
Genre: Clowns, Fear, Gen, Vignette
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-22
Updated: 2018-04-22
Packaged: 2019-04-26 02:23:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 485
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14392233
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/snarky_panda/pseuds/dramatic%20owl
Summary: For a grown man Al had a lot of odd fears and superstitions.





	Fear of a Clown

**Author's Note:**

> Written for genprompt_bingo for the prompt: clowns, and very very silly.

“Ohhh no. Don't tell me—”

Al hadn't been in the imaging chamber for a full minute before recoiling from the sight of Sam in clown make-up.

“I can't believe—”

“Sam—”

Sam shook his head, chortling. “I can’t believe you’re afraid of clowns, Al.”

“Listen, Sam, when I was eleven I ran away from the orphanage—”

“Don’t tell me. You ran away and joined the circus.”

“Yeah, I did.”

Sam rolled his eyes. “Is there anything you haven’t done?”

“I traveled the entire northeast with them for the summer. I was pretty flexible, but I didn’t have enough training to be part of any acrobatic act yet and I was just a kid anyway. So I took tickets, sold peanuts, swept, did odd jobs. It was fun. But there was this really creepy clown in the show—”

It was insensitive to interrupt him with laughter again but Sam couldn’t help it. Al had some odd fears and superstitions, and it seemed ridiculous for a grown man to still be afraid of clowns. As a kid Sam had enjoyed the clown acts, much more than the trapeze and acrobatic routines that set off his own fear of heights.

“I’m sorry, Al,” he said, sobering. As a child Al had his share of bad experiences; it occurred to him now that this might be one of Al’s more serious childhood stories and he was laughing about it instead of listening.

But Al had given up on his tale and was losing his patience. “And anyway, didn’t you ever see the movie _It_ , Sam?” he fumed.

“No. I’ve never even heard of it.”

“Well, that’ll turn you off of clowns forever.” Al punched his code into the hand-link and the imaging chamber door swished open. “Anyway, this leap is easy-peasy. All you need to do is keep this Smiley the Clown guy you leaped into from getting caught by the cops.”

“Is that all?” Sam asked sarcastically.

“Don’t worry, I’ll be there to tip you off to all their moves. And you can keep the make-up on for camouflage. In the original history Smiley – James Michaelson was his real name – gets caught a day from now and goes to jail. When they finally had DNA testing years later he was cleared but it was too late. He’d been killed in prison. You have to make sure that doesn’t happen. He was an innocent man, Sam.”

“Okay, don't worry. I’ll make sure Smiley the Clown doesn’t get caught and sent to prison.”

Al stepped into the square of light beyond the imaging chamber and turned back to face Sam, visibly shuddering at the sight of him.

Sam shook his head again and chuckled. “Aa-al,” he sing-songed.

“What?”

He brought his hands up to frame his made-up clown face and wiggled them mock-menacingly. “Oogie boogie boogie.”

Al stabbed the hand-link with his finger and the imaging chamber door shut between them.


End file.
